Psychology Dictionary - PDF ebook

The Psychology Dictionary can be used to complement studies in
Psychology or Counselling, as a resource for the professional, or as a
reference for anyone interested in Psychology.

This ebook has been developed as a reference tool for anyone involved in the discipline of Psychology. The Psychology Dictionary contains descriptions for common terms used in Psychology. There are many terms used in the area of Psychology alone that are explained throughout this text. Other terms have been taken from everyday language and used in a different context to describe psychological phenomena.

Deafness – hearing loss that can be partial or complete. It can occur due to cortical defects, injury, genetic influence, and anatomical/physiological influence.

Debility – the state of being weak or feeble, or loss of ability.

Decay – deterioration over time, wasting away.

Declarative – the act of declaring something, with the intention of changing circumstances.

Decontextualisation – the analysis of a text based on the literal meaning, without taking into consideration the context.

Decorticate – without cortex. Used to refer to behaviours that do not require the cortex (do not use higher mental processes).

Decussation – an X shaped crossing, in Psychology it refers to the crossing over of neural pathways from one side of the brain to the other.

Deduction – a process of reasoning from the general to the specific that draws conclusions from stated premises.

Deese paradigm – identified by James Deese, the Deese paradigm shows that studying semantically linked words (eg santa, presents, tree) produces false explicit memory of a related general word (eg. Christmas) that had not been on the original list.

Defect – a flaw or imperfection that can disrupt functioning.

Defence – any action taken to protect from adversity.

Defence Mechanism – a tactic to protect the mind from feelings or emotions that are difficult for the conscious mind to deal with. Defence mechanisms are often learnt at a young age and used unconsciously. Freud considers defence mechanisms to protect the ego from anxiety.